India, Denmark Partner on Offshore Wind Generation

India and Denmark have launched the ‘Centre of Excellence on Offshore Wind’ as part of a green strategic partnership between the two nations, which will boost offshore wind power generation plans among other renewable sources.

Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R.K Singh met with Mr. Dan Jørgensen, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities last week. In the meeting, India was represented by Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Secretary MNRE Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi and other senior officials of the Ministries of power and MNRE. The Danish minister was also accompanied by a delegation of officials.

R.K Singh underlined that energy transition towards green is an important part of India’s policy. He pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech set a target of 450 GW of RE capacity by 2030. The minister went on to say that the country’s renewable energy portfolio stands at 146 GW at present. He stated that India is the only G 20 country whose actions are in consonance with the Paris Climate agreement with regard to global rise in temperature. Discussing the potential of green energy, Singh said that India is looking at making Ladakh and islands such as Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep green in energy including transport.

The two ministers jointly launched ‘Centre of Excellence on Offshore Wind’ as part of the Green Strategic Partnership. This will  be centred around four working groups:

• spatial planning
• financial framework conditions
• supply chain infrastructure
• standards and testing

In the initial phases, the Centre of Excellence (COE) will focus on the offshorewind sector.

In the medium to long term, the vision is that the government will broaden to include a wider group of international governments and players, accumulating experience and useful practices on offshore wind.

Both sides agreed to further their cooperation in renewable energy with a focus on offshore wind energy. The two countries already have an agreement on “Strategic Sector Cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy with a focus on Offshore Wind Energy.” The Danish minister also invited R. K Singh to Denmark to take a first hand look at Denmark’s work in offshore wind energy.